Tips on drawing backgrounds?

[LordSwinton 759]

I suck at drawing backgrounds (and shading). Does anybody have any useful tips on drawing backgrounds or just space fillers?

 

Say I drew a scene inside a castle, everything is grey. So how do I make everything not look like a drab grey blob?

[Clover Heart 978]

I think reference images would be a good place to start. It can be hard to come up with a concept for a location on your own. So maybe if you look up images, even photographs, of places like that, you can kind of imagine how it would look. You could take elements you like and discard those you don't. You might even wanna copy some reference images. Not for use, just for practice. Get a feel for what something like what you want to create would be like.

 

I also think that variety is key in making a background that doesn't look too plain. So to take your castle example, if the walls and floors are stone, then yes, the background would be primarily grey. However, you could change the floor to another material so you can give it some contrast. More importantly, though, think of what would be in the castle. Most likely windows, to which you could add some nature showing through. On the floor, there might be rugs. Think about the furniture. Thrones or other seating, tables, stands. Maybe think of adornments such as a chandelier or drapes or flowers. You'll have to think about the various items a castle might hold and then incorporate them into the background. And the same goes for any setting. In a forest, what would there be? Trees, of course, but also grass, flowers, mushrooms, branches, brambles, animals. Think about these types of things in order to make fuller backgrounds.

 

Another key point is that you don't want the background to be too busy, unless there's a specific reason, like a dimensional slip or someone having a weird dream. This is a little harder to comment on what is too much. I guess if your characters look lost within the image, your background is probably overpowering. You still want your characters to be the main focus of the scene. So in addition to this, some simplification is probably also in order. Don't spend hours shading and defining the drapes when your characters are simple line drawings.

 

I do wanna say that I'm not that great with backgrounds, either, so there are probably some things I'm leaving out. But those are some places to start: references, list necessary items, simplify. Hope this helps!

[LordSwinton 759]

That's the best advice I've ever had. I feel tears forming. Thanks you.

[AmberDust 1,118]

Foreground, middle ground, background. Don't let the space occupied by characters be too busy, or else it'll drag the focus away from what's important. The most important part is making it balanced. Sometimes, a character's presence is so strong that you don't even need a background!

 

Not that I should be giving advice. ^^' I'm not good at backgrounds either.